India’s national soccer championship is returning to the
turmoil-hit Indian administrated Kashmir after three decades.

Kashmir will host the championship following a decline in the
17-year-old separatist violence, authorities said here Friday.
The Santosh Trophy Football Tournament is scheduled
to be held at the Polo Ground in Srinagar in July this year.

The junior sports minister of the state Babu Singh today conducted a
review meeting to look into the preparations for the event.

The championship was last held in the state in 1978, long before the
outbreak of Islamic insurgency in the state in late eighties.

While people in different states of India are crazy about cricket,
football in Kashmir is more popular than cricket.

The Federation Cup was the last big tournament of football which was
held in Kashmir in 1987, two years before violence broke out in the
region.

The sports minister said the
government would be encouraging sports activities in the state and a plan
of INR 2 crore had been formulated to be spent on the preparations of
the event.

Singh said that the play grounds in Kashmir like the Polo Ground,
Bakshi Stadium, Amar Singh College ground and the SRTC ground would be
developed soon.

The minister also assured that the play grounds would be used only for
playing purposes and none of these grounds would be converted in parks
or allowed to be used by the political parties for organizing public
gatherings and rallies.

A plan for developing an Indoor Stadium in Srinagar
was already in consideration, he said.